[JonFish85]

>It hit me then that while ideas may have value, the implementation usurps all of it. An idea alone is powerful, but once it's implemented the idea becomes worthless.

You need both. Implementation people aren't all that useful without a vision. A vision isn't all that useful without implementation. It's a symbiotic relationship.

Steve Jobs without a Steve Wozniak probably wouldn't have been as successful. Steve Wozniak, without Steve Jobs, probably wouldn't have been as successful. But the two put together made some great things happen.

Same with the moon landing. As much as it took a tremendous engineering effort to put a man on the moon, it took someone with the vision and power to make it all work. JFK didn't get involved in the details, I'm sure, but he really helped to set the tone of the whole effort.

There's a fine line between looking at implementation as "beneath" your position and knowing when you're being more of a hindrance than a help. In my experience, nothing has driven me more crazy than a person above me who, while being a great project manager or whatever, tries to get involved with things that end up hindering the effort. If you take a weekend course on programming in Java, that's great! But don't start giving out "helpful" tips in something that is not your domain.

[saraid216]

> You need both. Implementation people aren't all that useful without a vision. A vision isn't all that useful without implementation. It's a symbiotic relationship.

37signals' take on this was the best one I've seen (paraphrased):

Ideas are a multiplier. If your execution is good, a good idea will multiply that. If your execution is minimal, a good idea will scrape by. If your execution is abyssal, a good idea will make it worse.

I'd link the actual page in the book, but I have always had trouble finding it.

[alexhaar]

Derek Sivers talks about this idea as well: http://sivers.org/multiply

[saraid216]

Actually, that's exactly what I remember. I think I have been misattributing it this entire time.

Damn it. Thanks. :P

[abecedarius]

Jobs and Wozniak don't match this discussion very well: Woz was responsible for both the idea and the implementation, to first order. It's true that without Jobs there wouldn't have been a company.